In South Florida you basically can't escape prog. There are billboards everywhere advertising the latest Yes and Dream Theater, streets are named after Genesis albums, FL radio stations appear to have nothing but Can and Zappa in their catalogue, people discuss prog while having breakfast and dinner, Steven Wilson runs second only to Obama in popularity contests in the urban areas, public schools have Prog 101 as subject. I mean, S FL IS prog. You can't get any proggier than that. Which is unfair to the dozens of pop, reggaetton and rap artists that want to carve a niche for themselves in this very selective market.

I'm glad to report that the Welsh scene is fairly healthy. We even get some gigs!

Also, we even have prog CDs in the local independent record store. When I went on last week, The Wall was blasting out. I was proud as punch when my son said to the chap behind the counter, "great taste, mate!"

Pretty much. I was pleasantly surprised when the in flight magazine of one of our local airlines published an article on prog rock. We've had Porcupine Tree and Karnivool here - and JT came twice in the space of around 3-4 years (both of which I missed ) - but this was more on the basis of their independent following here, not because of a huge community of prog rock lovers. I ordered my copy of SEBTP online in desperation when the best music store in my city said they hadn't stocked that album in the last 6 years or so. Another (actually a books/music/movie store, where I picked up albums of Gentle Giant, Can, Hatfield and the North in a delightful haul), shut down for renovation and hasn't reopened since in the last two years. So much for receiving prog rock.

^ Sucks about the shutdowns, ... but how did you manage to miss two Tull concerts?

First one...was still in college and couldn't justify the tickets. The second was scheduled just a weekend after the terrorist strike of 26/11. I was all set to go - though hadn't booked my ticket - and then it got rescheduled to a weekday and had to give it a miss again. I am not sure if there'll be another chance.

I'm glad to report that the Welsh scene is fairly healthy. We even get some gigs!

Also, we even have prog CDs in the local independent record store. When I went on last week, The Wall was blasting out. I was proud as punch when my son said to the chap behind the counter, "great taste, mate!"

nice.

In our small Hampshire town this is one of the local brews:

And most of my immediate neighbours are Pink Floyd / David Gilmour fans of a certain age.

We have several summer festivals that manage to put on one or two prog acts on the bill, this year's Weyfest had Asia, Steve Hackett, Anna Phoebe, Curved Air, Karnataka and Martin Barre's JT tribute band (see here for my semi-humourous non-review review). And local(ish) venues regualrily host prog acts such as The Enid, Steve Hackett, Touchstone, The Tangent, Jadis, The Reasoning, Pendragon, Haken, Threshold... erm, well the Who's Who of modern Britsh Prog really.

Oh look, the band I once managed on a double-headline with Haken in 2009:

"You know what uranium is, right?It’s this thing called nuclear weapons. And other things. Like lots of things are done with uranium. Including some bad things.But nobody talks about that."

Where I live, aside from "Classic Rock", Prog itself is pretty scarce. None of the local or regional original music bands play it. The closest they come, I suppose, would be some of the technical mathcore bands.

To most in my area and age bracket (I'm 41), "Prog" is actually "Classic Rock". Even that, is relegated to the most mainstream of that lot...Rush, Kansas, Yes, Pink Floyd and, to a lesser degree, Genesis (Phil era only) can be heard all day, every day on the local Classic Rock station.

As for my friends, most of them are musicians. They all know the above bands, as well as some slightly more underground (by comparison) bands like Spock's Beard, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Opeth, Radiohead (if I can count them), and Porcupine Tree. An even more select few of us followed the late-90s/early 00s wave of Inside Out and Magna Carta bands.

I've turned my son (who is 19) on to Rush (who I am really only a casual fan of), Kansas & Pink Floyd (both personal favorites). He found Tool on his own (a band I also dig).

My wife likes select songs from the likes of Kansas, Porcupine Tree, Fates Warning, Queensryche and Radiohead. She also counts herself a big Pink Floyd and old Queensryche fan.

I'm glad to report that the Welsh scene is fairly healthy. We even get some gigs!

Also, we even have prog CDs in the local independent record store. When I went on last week, The Wall was blasting out. I was proud as punch when my son said to the chap behind the counter, "great taste, mate!"

nice.

In our small Hampshire town this is one of the local brews:

And most of my immediate neighbours are Pink Floyd / David Gilmour fans of a certain age.

We have several summer festivals that manage to put on one or two prog acts on the bill, this year's Weyfest had Asia, Steve Hackett, Anna Phoebe, Curved Air, Karnataka and Martin Barre's JT tribute band (see here for my semi-humourous non-review review). And local(ish) venues regualrily host prog acts such as The Enid, Steve Hackett, Touchstone, The Tangent, Jadis, The Reasoning, Pendragon, Haken, Threshold... erm, well the Who's Who of modern Britsh Prog really.

Oh look, the band I once managed on a double-headline with Haken in 2009:

I'll see if I can get my local to order that brew. Seven pints of that, and Comfortably Numb is what I would be!

In South Florida you basically can't escape prog. There are billboards everywhere advertising the latest Yes and Dream Theater, streets are named after Genesis albums, FL radio stations appear to have nothing but Can and Zappa in their catalogue, people discuss prog while having breakfast and dinner, Steven Wilson runs second only to Obama in popularity contests in the urban areas, public schools have Prog 101 as subject. I mean, S FL IS prog. You can't get any proggier than that. Which is unfair to the dozens of pop, reggaetton and rap artists that want to carve a niche for themselves in this very selective market.

Where I live in Northamptonshire in the east midlands section of the UK there are not too many visits from prog bands , however you dont have to venture too far to catch some live prog.

I saw Opeth & Anathema in November in nearby Nottingham and saw Rush in Birmingham couple years ago ( going to see them again in May )

It is an hour on the train to London where I saw Pure Reason Revolution in 2011 and have seen Steven Wilson twice ( and going again in March )

The is also a great small venue in Wolverhampton ( about 90mins drive ) called the Robin 2 in Bilston. They have a lot of prog bands . Caravan are playing their soon, so may try to get along to it. Last year they had several prog bands perform there, including Gong, Focus, Mostly Autumn and Touchstone.

Back to my neighbourhood, I have a close friend who I have known since childhood and we often meet up to discuss our music and recommendations to listen too.

That said, I dont know too many younger folk who are into prog but I do try to spread the word if I can.

First, thanks everybody for taking the time to answer. You hear lots of things, like prog is big in Europe, or at least in certain parts. South America is often pointed out as being big on prog, too. I never really believed it, but I figured you'd be the right crowd to ask!

Here, in Montreal, and pretty much anywhere in Eastern Canada, you can't even mention that Rush is a prog band, nobody believes you. People call them straight rock. It's the word they don't like, not the music.

Six years ago, I found out that Carl Palmer's band was playing here on the day of my wedding. I know his publicist (at least the one he had at the time) very well. I told her Palmer should reschedule (as a joke, of course). She got this idea of having the wedding at the show. My wife was ecstatic; a true rock'n'roll wedding. Palmer was against the idea at first, but he eventually agreed. But his management wanted to get some publicity off of it. Both my wife and I understood this and had nothing against it. Imagine that; the city that most glorified ELP, and not a single local media was interested in covering the event. Not one. So, we got married elsewhere and missed the show, unfortunately. I do want to note though that my wife offered to reschedule the wedding. Understand why I married her?

Also worthy of note: Palmer offered us a space in the audience for the reception. Unfotunately, we would've lost at least half the people on our way there...

Green Bay Wisconsin is certainly not a progressive hotbed. ACDC Ozzy Osbourne fans mix with the Rascal Flatts types here. I have to go to Madison or Milwaukee just to see Umphrey's Mcgee, and if Rush is touring, I'll have to go to Chicago.

I don't have any friends that will even listen to Fragile or Selling England by the Pound, let alone Acquiring the Taste or If I Could Do It All Again, I'd Do It All Over You.

The Pacific NW is a sad case. It is getting run over by Country and Western, and on occasion some grunge/wannabe shows up and no one will ever heard from them again!

All in all, this area is "owned" by corporate interests in radio and there are no independents. I tried a couple of years ago to do radio at KBOO and the lady, thought she was being really cool when she asked me the "social significance" of my idea of playing "progressive and experimental" music. I looked at her, and said ... "sorry madame, but you do not have the talent to know the difference or understand that difference. Thanks for your time and good luck." I had written it all down on the "resume" that I put together for them, and she was too egotistical to even look at it!

I've had enough of those folks in radio and do not need them. Besides they are a dime a dozen, and their station is a crapper and going down faster than that burning up public money that is drying up quicker than quicksand!

All in all, there are some weird things here ... Portland/Seattle stink ... but Return to Forever can sell out Eugene, and not play Portland ... which ought to tell you how much appreciation this town even has for Chick Corea ... even the jazz festival at Mount Hood, that is run by the oldest men you ever met, finally ... I mean FINALLY, brought in an act that was on ECM! And they are too proud to show a Keith Jarrett, or Return to Forever, that sold out Eugene! Gong was sold out in Eugene (pictures on my website), but not in Portland!

Tangerine Dream does not even do the Pacific NW anymore ... and I think Miramar has a lot to do with it, and they made sure they buried their name as fast as possible after the huge ripoff.

All in all, it helps me ... stay ever more focused ... but one of the folks from Portland that I yapp with at the time in another board, is as boring as crap in his tastes for music and supposedly he is a professional guitar player! He does listen to a couple of different things, but eventually it is sort of ... can he steal a chop or two here in there for him to use ... which he can't anyway ... typical ... what else is new?

This area is run and dominated by top ten way too much ... and that is what most of the folks around me know and like ... only a couple of folks I know in this Call Center, even appreciate the stuff I work with and share with them.

... none of the hits, none of the time ... now you know what the inner art is all about! www.pedrosena.com

I live about an hour away from Toronto and if, say, Peter Gabriel were playing a show he'd be talked about as a "classic rock legend" on radio commercials. If Muse were doing a show radio commercials would talk about "their revolutionary work" or "playing all their hits" etc. Never heard a radio ad call a band progressive, though DJs sometimes do.

Rush is obviously the largest prog band where I live, but most people would call them rock or their early stuff metal.

I live in France, play in La Théorie des Cordes a Jazz Rock Prog band and we are received like s*** by the concert halls and festivals..

What's paradoxal is (because we still keep on playing in the streets like pirates..) the audience love it!! Either melomanes or newbies, kids or adults or grandpas, everyone loves it, but the official gigs are very rare.. I'm starting to be annoyed here..

We've been looking for a manager for so long (3 years) and i'm desperate, I feel like searching for the f***** sacred graal here..

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